Apparatus for training and amusement purposes.



S G. BERZA'G. APPARATUS FOR TRAINING nn AMUSEMENT PURPOSES.

AYPLIOATIOH FILED LPB.2'7,1910.

Patented June 6, 1911,

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'0. BERZAO. APPARATUS FOR TRAINING AND AMUSEMENT runrosns.

APPLIOATIOR' FILED APB-27,1910.

PatentedJune 6,1911.

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UmTEI) STATES PATENT OFFICE.

, omrr BERZAC, on NEW YoRK', N. Y.

APPARATUS FOR TRAINING AND AMUSEMENT PURPOSES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 27, 1910. Serial No. 558,047.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OLIrFBERzAo, a subject of the King of Great Britain,residing in the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, county and Stateof New. York,

have'invented a certain new and useful Apparatus for Training andAmusement Purposes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is an apparatus, adapted for use, among, other things,for training equestrians whereby bare back, and other diflicult stylesof riding horses, may be accomplished much more expeditiously,thoroughly, and with less danger of accident than has heretofore beenpossible.

As is well known, the skill required by circus, and similar riders, isacquired only after a great deal of patient, difficult and dangerousexperience. The present invention overcomes, to a great extent, theseand other difiiculties, and embodies means whereby riders may performall their preliminary work without danger, and in a manner to Theapparatus is adapted for use, also, as an amusement apparatus, in thatit enables inexperienced riders, 'e. 9., those selected indiscriminatelyfrom an audience, to attempt theperformance of diflicult feats, withoutfear of serious accident, and yet to the great amusement of theaudience.

.Broadly stated, the invention embodies a rotatable boom havingsuspended therefrom a device, such as a belt, for supporting the riderwhen necessary independently of the horse, or to enable him to mount ordismount, when desired, as well as to provide against accident to therider.

It will be understood thatthe apparatus is not only intended for use ina circus, but

may be used in any place of amusement, such as invaudeville theaters,parks, etc.

In the accompanying drawings -I have illustrated different practicalembodiments of the invention, but the construction shown therein are tobe understood as illustrative,

only, and not asdefining the limits of the invention.

cable which suspends the body belt. Fig. 3

is an enlarged vertical section through the suspended platform adaptedfor supporting the upper .end of the rotatable boom. Fig. 4 is anelevation of a portion of the'boom, the supporting cable therefor, andthe cable which supports the body belt. Fig. 5 is an elevation, partlyin section, illustrating another embodiment of the invention.

' A designates a boomwhich is provided at its lower part with footblock, a. Said foot block is shown as being connected by a horizontalbolt, Z), to'a lug, o, of a bearing block, B. The bearing block isprovided with a depending pintle, c, which is free to rotate in a fixedsupporting block, G, and between the bearing block and the foot blockare interposed the rollers or balls, 0, of a ball or roller bearingwhereby the foot block, B, is

Patented June 6, 1911.

freev to rotate with respect to the bearing d, at the upper free end ofthe boom, A.

The arm, D, is rotatably supported on a platform, E, which is suspendedfrom an elevated point of support by a cable, E, said platfrom, E, beingheld firmly in posititon by means of guy ropes, e. The guy ropes arefastened to the edge portion of platform, E, by any suitable means, suchas the bolts, 6, while the lower ends of said guy ropes are fastened tostakes, e driven into the ground or to eyes upon the floor. Thesuspending cable, E, is fastened at its upper end to the ceiling, or toany other suitable supporting means, but the lower end of the cable isprovided with a hook, j, which is detachably connected to a clevis, f,the latter being securedby nuts, 7, to the central part of platform,'E.

The rotating arm, D, is connected pivotally to the central part ofplatform, E, by suitable means, the same being herein shown as a bolt,9, which is screwed into a-female threaded socket, 9, provided in anangular end of the rotating arm, D. The bolt, g, passes loosely throughan opening provided in the platform, E, and the head of said bolt isshown in Fig. 3 as resting upon a washer, 9

F designates a body belt of any suitable construction, the same beingattached to the free end of a supporting cable, G. Said cable runsthrough a block, G, which is suspended from the eye, cl, at the free endof boom, A. From the block said supporting cable, Gr, extends down to aWindlass or drum, H, the latter being mounted for free rotation upon theboom, A, near the pivoted end thereof. The Windlass, H, is adapted to beoperated by any suitable means. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the shaft, h,of the Windlass is provided with a worm gear, h, which meshes with aworm, i, on the shaft, 71, of an electric motor, I, the latter beingsuitably attached to the rotatable boom, A. Current from any suitablesource of energy is adapted to be supplied to the motor for the purposeof rotating it, and the motor in turn operates the worm and worm gearfor the purpose of rotating the Windlass so as to coil the cable, G,upon said Windlass, or to uncoil the cable therefrom. The intermeshingworm and worm gear provide means for locking the cable, H, from rotationwhen the motor is at rest. Instead of operating the Windlass by themotor and gearing described, said windlass may be operated by a handcrank, H, which is secured to the Windlass shaft, h, as shown in Fig. 5.The hand crank is the equivalent of the electric motor as a means foroperating the Windlass, but either of these devices, or any equivalentsthereof, may be employed in my apparatus.

The operation of the apparatus shown in Figs. 1 to at, inclusive, isevident from the foregoing description taken in connection with thedrawings. The body belt, F, is fastened around the body of the performeror acrobat, and the cable, G, is adjusted so as to allow the performerto stand upon the back of a horse. The animal is trained to travel in acircuit around the boom, A, and the boom is pushed around by anattendant who should be stationed at the switch controlling the motor,or at the crank, H, for operating the Windlass. Should the animal swerveout of a prescribed path, the rider is prevented from falling by thebody belt which is suspended by cable, G, from the boom. Of course, theboom is pushed around by the attendant so that it will travel at a speedequal to the speed of the animal. By mounting the boom for free rotationin the roller bearing and by supporting the free end of the boom fromthe rotatable arm, D, very little effort is required to rotate the boomat the required speed. It is evident, furthermore, that the rotatablearm, D, will turn freely on the axis afforded by the vertical bolt sothat the arm, D, will travel or rotate with the boom.

Should the rider fall off the horse, he is prevented from falling to theground by the body belt and the cable, the Windlass, H, being under thecontrol of the attendant, the performer may be lowered safely to theground, or the animal may be driven into a position where the performermay easily resume a position upon the back of the animal. Should it bedesired, the cable, G, may be slackened to a sufficient extent for theperformer to leap from the ground to the back of the horse, or todismount easily, but ordinarily the apparatus is arranged so that thereis a certain amount of tension on the operating cable, G, for thepurpose of preventing the performer from falling to the ground should helose his footing upon the back of the animal.

The apparatus shown in Fig. 5 includes a mast, J, which is stepped atits lower end in a bearing, C, and is rotatably supported by a pintle, Cin a platform, E the latter being suspended and stayed by devicesheretofore described in connection with a platform, E, of Figs. 1 and 3.The mast, J, carries a boom, A, which is supported in a prescribedposition by a cable, D, the latter being attached at one end to an eye,is, at the upper end of the mast. The boom, A, is pivotally connected bya bolt, b, ,to the mast, and on this boom is supported a windlass, H Thefree end of the boom is provided with an eye, (Z to which is connected ahook, cl, and the block, 9 The supporting cable, G is coiled upon thedrum, H and runs through the block, 9 said cable being provided at itsfree end with a body belt similar to the belt, F, of Figs. 1 and 4. Themode of using the apparatus of Fig. 5 is substantially the same as thatheretofore described in connection with the apparatus of Figs. 1 to 4,inclusive.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the drawings itwill be observed that the several parts composing my apparatus may bereadily assembled and erected so that the apparatus can be quicklyinstalled for use, and at the same time these several parts may bedisconnected in order that they may be packed or stored Within a smallcompass.

The entire apparatus is simple in construction, easy of operation, andeconomical in manufacture.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an apparatus for training and amusement purposes, a boom mountedfor rotation on a vertical axis and adapted to be moved relatively to apath to be traversed by an animal, a device suspened from the boom andadapted to be attached to a rider of the animal, and a Windlass mountedupon theboom for rotation therewith, said windlass being operativelyconnected with said device for supporting the rider should the latterbecome dismounted accidentally from the animal.

2. Inan apparatus for training and amusement purposes, a boom rotatablerelative to the path to be traversed by an animal undergoing training orto be engaged in a per formance, a device suspended from the boom andattachable to the person of a performer to be engaged in riding theanimal, a windlass supported by, and rotatable with, said boom, and acable coiled on the Windlass and connected with said device forsupporting the weight of the performer in the event of the latterbecoming dismounted from the animaL- 3. In an apparatus of the classdescribed, a rotatable boom, a rotatable arm connected to said boom,said arm operating to support the boom at an angle relative toa path tobe traversed by an animal to be trained or to be engaged in aperformance, and supporting means connected to the boom.

4:. In an apparatus of the class described, a rotatable boom, arotatable arm connected to said boom, said arm operating to support theboom at an angle relative to a path to be traversed by an animal to betrained or to be engaged in a performance, a belt connected to the boomand adapted to be secured to the rider, and means for raising andlowering said belt.

5. In an apparatus of the class described, a rotatable boom, a platformor supporting device, means for supporting said platform, a rotatablearm mounted on the platform and connected to said boom, and means forsupporting a rider, connected to the boom.

6. In an apparatus for training and amusement purposes, an overheadplatform, a boom rotatable relative to the path to be traversed by ananimal to be trained or to be engaged in a performance, aboom-supporting member pivoted to the platform and connected to saidboom for retaining the latter at an angle to the path to be traversed bythe animal, a device attachable to the person of a performer forsupporting the latters weight in the event of displacement from theanimal, and operating means rotatable with the boom and connected tosaid device.

7. In an apparatus of the class described, a suspended overheadplatform, an arm pivotally supported by the platform, a pivoted boomconnected at its upper portion to the arm, and means carried by the boomfor supporting a rider.

8. In an apparatus for training and amusement purposes, a boom rotatablerelative to the path to be traversed by an animal to be trained or to beengaged in a performance, an operating drum mounted upon the boom formovement therewith, a cable guided on the boom and wound upon the drum,a body belt attached to a cable and attachable to the person of aperformer adapted to ride the animal, and means for operating the drumat will whereby the weight of a performer is adapted to be suspendedfrom the boom in the event of said performer becoming dismounted fromthe animal.

9. In an apparatus of the class described, a rotatable foot block, aboom pivoted to the foot block and adapted for rotation there with,means for supporting the free end of the boom, and means carried by theboom for supporting a rider.

In testimony thereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

. CLIFF BERZAG.

Witnesses:

H. I. BERNHARD, JAs. H. GRIFFIN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

